Cameron John (10-under 62)

On shooting 66 Sunday at The Players Series

“I finally got it going with the putter on the last day at Rosebud and I knew that if I’d putted well all week I probably would have ended up a lot higher up the leaderboard. I played as good as I did last week and rolled pretty much everything in.”

On starting his round with two birdies

“I felt good on the practice green and then rolling a couple in on the first two I thought that was a good way to start. I almost rolled in a long one for par on the third so I knew the putter was warm enough, I just had to give myself enough chances. The greens are pure so I thought if I started them on line they’d probably go in.”

On making eagle at the 501m par-5 sixth

“I hit a good drive down that hole and only had 8-iron in and hit it to eight feet. It was as simple as start it on line and it’s going to go in. It was a little bit downwind and I had 165m in so I hit 8-iron.”

On the best of his birdies on the back nine

“The one on 17 was pretty good. It’s always nice to get to double figures. I rolled the putter really well but that was one where I hit it six feet. I ahd to putt across the slope and thought it was a good chance to get to double figures and might be the last. I could have quite easily got to 11 or 12 but you’re never going to play a round like that without having a couple that slip past the edge.”

On experience playing on the Mornington Peninsula

“I’m a Melbourne boy but I played a lot of events down here. I’ve pretty much played all of them heaps and today’s conditions was as good as it will ever get down here. It wasn’t windy so it was a matter of just looking at the holes and if you put a decent swing on it it’s not going to move off line.”

On playing in conditions like predicted Friday

“Yeah, probably 10 or 15 times. It’s bound to happen once probably every week you come down here. If you come down here for a week one day’s going to be bad so you’ve just got to grin and bear it and hold onto your hat as much as you can. I’m sure the scores won’t be as good tomorrow but if I hit it as solid as I did today it’s always an opportunity to shoot a really good number.”

Dimi Papadatos (10-under 62)

On starting his round with eagle at par-5 ninth

“I hit driver, 3-iron to 10 feet and rolled it in. I had about 215 metres for my second. You wouldn’t necessarily expect to eagle nine but it’s definitely a really good birdie opportunity. I hit a good shot in there and tried to make the most of it. When there’s no wind like today, the scores are going to be pretty low so I knew I had to make the most of all the opportunities I got. Got into a good groove and kept ticking it over.”

On the low scores posted in the morning

“I knew the scoring was good so I was pretty aware that even though I was probably 5-under pretty early I needed to keep pushing on from there. It’s a good position to be in but I still had a lot of opportunities so I wanted to make the most of my round. I made quite a few birdies going out and then I had the easier nine coming in so I wanted to make sure I made the most of it to finish off the round.”

On his lowest score in a tournament

“I holed an eight-footer for last to get to 10. I was in the middle of the fairway on the last and thought, Geez it would be nice to birdie this because I haven’t had 10-under before. I stepped back away from it and thought about hitting it in there close and hit a good one in there to eight feet and rolled it in. I think my best score in a tournament before today was 64 so this is something different for me.”

On prospect of difficult conditions Friday

“You don’t really know what the conditions and course can bring so just have to manage whatever’s out there. You can’t have too much expectation coming out on a day like tomorrow when you don’t really know what the weather’s going to be like. It could be a bit of a grind, it could clear up, not really sure how it’s going to play out but just try and get some momentum going early in the round and keep it rolling.”

Josh Clarke (9-under 63)

On his preparation prior to round one

“I turned up today hitting it good. I struggled late in the week last week but something kind of clicked yesterday in the practice round, the nine holes I had in the morning, and I started finding the middle of the clubface again. Irons were the only real issue last week and they were pretty sharp today.”

On starting his round with four straight birdies

“The birdie on the third was pretty good. I hit a quality 7-iron into maybe 15-16 feet and rolled a left-to-righter in that didn’t really ever look like missing. The other three were quite regulation and straightforward but the one at the third made me think that we could be onto something today.”

On the pride he felt earning his Tour card at Moonah Links

“That was pretty big. That was what I’d been wanting to do for the last six or seven years. Since I left school that’s all I’ve wanted to do and had a few tough points along the road, a few good results but that was the first part of it, that opened my eyes and made me think that maybe I can do this. Waiting for a bit of validation.”

On shooting 3-under 69 in the final round of Q School

“It wasn’t playing easy that day and I’d got off to a pretty slow start that week. The one easy day I’ve ever seen Moonah Links have I was feeling pretty crook and shot over par on the first day. I thought I’d put my foot in it there but I played really solid for the rest of that week, especially that last day. That 3-under the last day was pretty similar to today. I didn’t hit many poor shots, got a few putts to drop, kept the head cool. That was a really good round.”

David McKenzie (8-under 64)

On his preparation for round one

“My wife told me to go down on Wednesday and have a practice round otherwise I was going to go blind on it. So I skipped two holes – the 13th and 14th – but as it turned out I birdied both of those. So it’s been a pretty chilled-out preparation so far. I’m playing these tournaments because I like the golf courses and I’m having a bit of fun but I’m pretty chilled and relaxed about it all knowing there are a lot of young guys who are really keen with a lot of advantages on me.”

On a front nine of 31

“I made a few nice putts, that was the big thing. I made a six-footer on the first and the second hole I drove it onto the front edge of the green and putted it almost off the other side of the green and then holed a 20-footer coming back. Ultimately I made a lot of putts in the 15-20 foot range and that’s how you have your low rounds. I hit it in play a lot and gave myself lots of chances from that distance.”

On the eagle at six

“I didn’t actually go with a yardage book this week. I was cranky that they didn’t have any books in yards so I just went with the rangefinder and I couldn’t get the yardage on that one. It was a bit of a guess and as it turned out I mis-hit my 3-hybrid from in the vicinity of 240 yards and hit it into 15 feet and holed the putt. It released further up the green than I was anticipating because it bounced a little bit harder and lower and skipped up a little bit further. Deyen Lawson ahd a putt on a similar line so I got a look at a read there.”

Blake Windred (8-under 64)

On a day of low scoring

“For me personally, I feel like there’s more pressure to go low and nail the one per centers when the course is quite gettable. I like when it plays tough because the most well-rounded players rise to the top usually. I take a lot out of today, to be able to hole a few putts when I really needed to and get a wriggle on.”

On playing the front nine in 7-under 30

“I made eagle at one, birdied two, horseshoed for bogey on three, hit it up to eight feet on four and full horseshoed again and if I wasn’t in the right mental space I might have let it get to me. A couple of years ago it may have rattled me more than it did but right then and there was the break point. Either I move on and finish the round like I did or fade away a little bit and shoot 3-under. I was happy with the way I bounced back after a couple of horseshoes on that back nine.”

On noticing the morning scores

“My caddy, Jack Poutney, with three holes to go he told me there was a score of 9 in when I was at 4. We kind of recognised that we needed a couple more birdies and then I made eagle at six, hit it to a foot from 85 metres on the next and then holed a 18-footer on the last across the slope. He gave me a nudge to make me realise that 5 or 6-under wasn’t going to be that good today, it actually helped me a lot and made me go into that last hole trying to finish off with a couple of birdies.”

On the difficult conditions predicted for Friday

“I’m preparing for it to be awful, and hopefully it stays the same all day.”

Michael Hendry (7-under, 65)

On taking advantage of good scoring conditions

“It was nice and calm, plenty of fairway width and the greens were good. It’s pretty hard to make bad scores. It’s pretty easy to chip away and make a few putts and then all of a sudden you’re 5 or 6-under.

On the highlights of his round

“I hit a pretty reasonable drive and a 6-iron into the wind from 164 metres to 15 feet and managed to hole that putt. That was probably the hardest birdie of the day today of the birdies I made. I was giving myself plenty of good looks. I picked most of the par 5s off by hitting them in two or getting up around the green. I hit a couple of good 7-irons into a couple of the par 3s and holed a couple of reasonable putts. All of a sudden it was 7-under. It felt pretty stress free today. I hit 17 greens and the one I missed I missed by about a foot and putted it anyway.”

On the condition of the greens

“They’re holding quite well. I quite like how they are. It might be better if they were a little bit firmer. Three-quarter wedge shots were getting a bit of spin today where I’d prefer them to land and stop on the spot rather than spinning back. The course is in great condition, you cannot fault it. The green surrounds are just pure. You could putt from 60 yards if you wanted to. You’ve got a million options, you’re not being dictated to by a lie around the greens. My preference would be a little bit firmer but they’re by no means soft.”

On returning to Moonah Links

“I played the Moonah Classic back in 2010 and I did pretty well in that event from memory (Hendry was tied for 10th). I’ve always kind of liked the golf course. I’ve not played the Legends before but the style of golf course I enjoy and I’ve always been quite good in the wind. I don’t mind playing in a little bit of breeze so the general conditions you find down here are going to suit me quite well.”

Steven Jeffress (7-under 65)

On starting with a bogey-free 65

“It was nice, considering I feel like I’ve been playing terrible. It was nice to get off to a solid start. Last week was my first event for 11 months so it felt good to get off to a solid start. All COVID I reckon I’d have been lucky to spend five hours on a putting green and I used to do that in two days. Not a whole lot of practice and just over the past two weeks just haven’t been striking the ball overly great. I always hit it reasonably straight but if the contact’s not quite there you can’t get it near the hole and then you’re chasing your tail all day today. I won’t say I flushed it today but I managed it better.”

On the chip-in at seven and par save at eight

“I hit a terrible second shot into seven and there’s a big slope at the front of the green. It rolled back down that into a divot and I didn’t get it up the hill to the green and it rolled back down again. I had about 30 metres to the front of the green and pitched it in for par with the 60-degree lob wedge. And then the next hole I got up and down from about the same distance off the green to save par again. They were a couple of nice little momentum holes. You make a couple of bogeys there and all the gas goes out of you. The pitch-in was excellent.”

On sharpness of short game after the layoff

“Around the greens I feel like my short game is almost as good as it’s been in years. I feel like I can’t miss. I don’t know where that comes from, probably confidence more than anything, especially off the tight lies down here. The grass is so tight but I’m loving it. I feel like if I’m off the green it’s not an issue because I feel like I can get it up and down.”

On how he has spent 11 months without tournament golf

“I’ve actually been painting. My dad was a painter so I know how to do it so I’ve been doing a few jobs painting, which has kept me busy. I think I’ve done three houses while the break’s been on. I would much rather play golf because painting is not great on your body, especially a 45-year-old body like mine.”